Monday, October 21
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Neutralizing Shaba’s Tactics with Positional Chess! | Opening, Endgame, Strategy
It’s not easy to face the great attacker Alex Shabalov. GM Perelshteyn explains his opening strategy, his planning to force positional chess on his opponent. In this game you will find out about prophylactic thinking, outposts, good vs bad trades, and the principle of two weaknesses. The endgame enters an instructive R+P endgame where one move is the difference between winning and drawing!
Tuesday, October 22
IM Bill Paschall – The Aggressive Queen Exchange | Middlegame, Strategy
In most cases when one player has a serious advantage in space it is advantageous for the attacking player to avoid exchanges in order to
keep the defender cramped. There are, however, certain situations where the winning method may be found by exchanging queens and avoiding risk.
In the following game, experienced Hungarian GM Gyula Sax was able to force the win of material while avoiding any complications against a
wily opponent. The game is a very practical win by a player who was also very capable of direct attack.
Wednesday, October 23
FM Dennis Monokroussos – A Lesson for Forintos | Tactics
Several shows ago I presented Forintos-Smyslov, which featured the same variation of the Nimzo-Indian as the present game. There, Forintos neglected his kingside development and got punished; this time, we see how White should handle the variation. Anand played a wonderful game, and his star sacrifice on move 16 more or less put one of Black’s main branches in the Neo-Saemisch variation out of business.
Thursday, October 24
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Play the Sozin Attack vs the Najdorf Sicilian, Part 2 | Strategy
In this lecture we continue learning the Nbd7-Nc5 line in the Sozin Attack but compared to the previous lecture Black does not take the central pawn and prefers 9…Be7. To emphasize his lead in development White continues advancing in the center by means of 10.e5. The positions that arise in this variation require a vigorous play from White with possible sacrifices whereas Black can give up the right to castle and should be accurate in his defending. If both sides play the best moves the game is supposed to be dynamically even but from a practical point of view it’s easier to play it for White.
Friday, October 25
GM Robert Hungaski – Putting Pressure on the Italian Game | Strategy
On this occasion I will be revisiting a line I recommended for Black a while back. I recently got the opportunity to play it myself, and even though the final result was not optimal, the position I achieved out of the opening was beyond reproach. I am speaking of the increasingly popular …a5 idea in the Giuoco Piano. White has basically two ways of reacting to this idea: to allow the black pawn to keep advancing or to stop it on its tracks. My opponent chose the former. So in this game we will see how Black can profit from the advance of the a-pawn to a4.